Page 105 of Riot's Thorn
Satyr, Lucky, and Rigger stand on one side of the foyer while Mustang and I stand on the other. The driver’s heels clack on the brick drive, and then a car door opens and shuts before the car pulls away. Dutch will make sure the driver doesn’t get wind of what happened.
The beep of the lock sounds, and the door opens to reveal a disheveled Bart. His suit coat is draped over his arm, the buttons of his shirt undone and untucked, showing his white undershirt, and his belt is hanging open. Even though I had a feeling Parker wouldn’t be with him, it still disappoints me to find him alone.
It makes me sick thinking about what he’s done tonight and who he’s done it to. There’s no way he didn’t force Parker into his sick games. He whistles as he shuts the door behind him as if he just had the time of his life. Once Parker is safe, I’ll make her tell me all the things Bart and his friends did to her, and then I’ll do them to him, right before I kill him in the most painful way I can dream up.
“Welcome home,” Rigger says, and the five of us step out from the shadows into his path.
“What the hell? Get out of my house.” He flips on the lights. We’re not wearing our cuts, but he’s seen my face before, so it’s no surprise that his gaze stops on me. “Get out now, before you do something you’ll regret.”
“The only thing I’d regret is killing you before you tell me what I need to know,” I say.
He turns and opens the door, but Dutch is standing there, gun in hand and pointing it at Bart. “We’re not going anywhere until you tell us where the girl is.”
“Who? Parker? I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since the funeral.”
I don’t have time to play games, so I pull my knife from its sheath and stab him in the shoulder. “Wrong answer.”
He howls in pain, his hand hovering around the knife as he debates what to do. “You’re all insane. Do you know who I am? I’ll have you all thrown in jail if you don’t leave this instant.”
“Do you know whoweare? Because you’ll be dead before anyone knows we were here if you don’t tell us where she is.” I grab the handle of the knife and rip it out, earning me another beautiful cry.
“Let’s go in the dining room, shall we?” Rigger shoves him down the hall.
“My wife was home. Where is she?” He looks up the stairwell as we pass. “Anadell?”
“You’re calling on your wife to help you?” Lucky asks. “Fuckin’ pussy.”
“Besides, that bitch is dead,” Satyr says.
“No,” Bart whispers. “She can’t be.”
“Oh yeah. She’s super dead. Tonight, she’ll be cremated and scattered in the landfill.” Satyr claps a hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Just returning garbage to where it belongs.”
Tears well in Bart’s eyes. “She didn’t do anything. She was innocent.”
“She dressed my woman and sent her with you. That’s a fuck ton more than nothing,” I say lowly.
“Oh, god. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”
“Glad we agree. Now sit the fuck down and start talking,” Rigger says, shoving him into a seat.
Bart grips his shoulder where there’s a steady stream of blood soaking his shirt. “I didn’t take her. She didn’t come with me.”
“Liar.” I stab my knife into his hand resting on the table. “Your wife told us she went with you.”
Bart throws his head back, eyes closed tight, and hisses. “She was going to, but she was being difficult.”
“Dude, if I were you, I’d talk a little faster. This guy doesn’t have a lot of patience, but he does have a big imagination that he uses to inflict pain on people who don’t do what they’re told,” Lucky says.
“I don’t know where she is. That’s the truth. I don’t arrange any of that. I just buy and sell.”
I yank the knife free and stab it into his thigh this time. “The blade on this thing is long enough to hurt but not long enough to cause a lot of damage, meaning I can do this all night, and you won’t bleed out.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
I flip the table, forcing Rigger, Dutch, and Satyr to jump backward. Then, I’m standing in front of the asshole, and my fist is connecting with his face over and over. Warm blood sprays onto my face, and my fist screams as it breaks the bones in Bart’s face, but I can’t stop.
Lucky gets behind me and pulls me away by locking his arms around my elbows, but I’m consumed with blood lust, so I whirl around and give him a shove. He’s bigger and stronger than Iam, but I don’t care. He’s standing in the way of me getting to my girl.
